Social media is beneficial for congressional relations with the public by increasing accountability, as it demands more visibility and transparency from representatives. It also gives a voice to people previously disenfranchised and marginalized by the process: people who can’t get transportation to vote, or who can’t afford to miss work, or who live in gerrymandered districts where election results are not representative of the actual population. Social media for the political realm is essentially one big never-ending town hall meeting. This can be overwhelming, but ultimately it brings constituents closer together with their representatives and engages more people in the political process who might otherwise not have taken an interest.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Impact of Social Media on Congressional Relations with the Public
Social media allows constituents to immediately and constantly connect with their congressional representatives, which has had a variety of effects on the relationship between Congress and the public. According to a Finn Futures survey, almost 80% of Americans believe that social media has an impact on policy outcomes. The issues they believe it has the most impact on are gun control, immigration, and trade. Many respondents also said that social media, particularly candidates’ tone and behavior on social media, influences their voting decisions. It is primarily influential for college students, Democrats, and Independents, rather than Republicans. Social media has coincided with the expansion of news networks and the development of the 24-hour new cycle, all of which have increased (but also severely diluted) the amount of relevant information on political events and issues. The variety of social media platforms and the sheer number of people and opinions which can be seen and interacted with inevitably develop echo-chambers. People follow people they agree with, post their own opinions with no need to fact check or moderate their tone, and anything directed towards a representative has to be sifted through to determine actual policy questions or suggestions. Social media also allows for the fabrication of identities and spamming by maligned actors, which wastes the time of representatives and distracts from real concerns from real constituents.
Social media is beneficial for congressional relations with the public by increasing accountability, as it demands more visibility and transparency from representatives. It also gives a voice to people previously disenfranchised and marginalized by the process: people who can’t get transportation to vote, or who can’t afford to miss work, or who live in gerrymandered districts where election results are not representative of the actual population. Social media for the political realm is essentially one big never-ending town hall meeting. This can be overwhelming, but ultimately it brings constituents closer together with their representatives and engages more people in the political process who might otherwise not have taken an interest.
Social media is beneficial for congressional relations with the public by increasing accountability, as it demands more visibility and transparency from representatives. It also gives a voice to people previously disenfranchised and marginalized by the process: people who can’t get transportation to vote, or who can’t afford to miss work, or who live in gerrymandered districts where election results are not representative of the actual population. Social media for the political realm is essentially one big never-ending town hall meeting. This can be overwhelming, but ultimately it brings constituents closer together with their representatives and engages more people in the political process who might otherwise not have taken an interest.
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